Harare: Pakistan captain Babar Azam in a virtual press conference today has announced a 13-member squad for the second Tests against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club, scheduled to start from tomorrow. Pacers Tabish Ali and Haris Rauf have been named while the remaining eleven are the same who played the first Test. It must be noted that Pakistan are 1-0 …

SAPPORO: Spectators were urged to stay away as a subdued Tokyo Olympics marathon rehearsal took place under strict anti-coronavirus conditions in Sapporo on Wednesday, as officials grapple with a rise in infections and public antipathy to the Games. Scattered onlookers in facemasks clapped but refrained from cheering, to avoid spreading droplets, as Kenya’s Hillary Kipkoech won the scaled-back men’s half-marathon …

SYDNEY: Former Australia Test cricketer Stuart MacGill was allegedly kidnapped, assaulted and threatened with a gun before being released last month in Sydney. New South Wales state police on Wednesday arrested and charged four men in relation to the incident. The men — aged 27, 29, 42 and 46 — including one who is allegedly known to MacGill, were charged …

LAHORE: Former medical head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Dr. Sohail Salim, who resigned after seven Covid-19 cases appeared in this year’s Pakistan Super League-6 which led to the postponement of the league midway, disclosed on Wednesday that he did not resign at his own but was asked for it. “On the very next day [following the PSL postponement] …

NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board faces losing about $270 million in revenue after its lucrative and star-studded Indian Premier League (IPL) was halted by the Covid-19 crisis in the country, a senior official said on Wednesday. The world’s richest Twenty20 league was approaching its halfway stage before it was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday following bubble breaches in two venues. …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit posted double-digit rise as it widened by 21.6 per cent to $23.83 billion in the 10 months of 2020-21 from $19.59bn over the corresponding period last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data showed on Wednesday. The trade gap has been widening since December 2020. The surge in trade deficit is mainly led by exponential growth …

KARACHI: The government again slashed the cut-off yields on treasury bills (T-bills) while it raised Rs617.8 billion in an auction on Wednesday. The cut-off yield on the benchmark six-month T-bills was slashed by14 basis points to raise Rs299.4bn. In the last auction held on April 21 the rate was slashed by 11bps. The bidding trend showed presence of huge liquidity …

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved payment of Rs90 billion to 35 independent power producers (IPPs). The ECC also decided to give a last chance to K-Electric (KE) for settling Rs212bn payments and inking an agreement for additional power intake from the national grid on timely payments. The ECC meeting, presided over by Minister …

KARACHI: The National Clearing Company of Pakistan (NCCPL) has set the long-held speculation on the number of investors who trade at the Pakistan Stock Exchange at rest. The clearing company disclosed on its website that the active Unique Identification Numbers (UINs) — allotted to each investor — as of April 30, 2021 stood at 252,322. These include individual accounts at …